Report from AMTA National Convention

I attended the AMTA National Convention in Minneapolis this week and had a great time, catching up with old friends, meeting new ones, and running all over the place. Minneapolis is a beautiful city; very clean and I felt safe on the street at night, and the people were very hospitable. Here are some of the high points:

Tuesday I attended the Board of Directors meeting. It was business as usual, until Ruth Werner took her place at the table to talk about the Massage Therapy Foundation. Since I’m known for being plain-spoken myself, I appreciate it whenever anyone lays it on the line, and that’s exactly what Ruth did. She stated that while the AMTA and the MTF are bound together in perpetuity, that in order to survive and thrive, the Foundation must seek additional partners for support. She also said that the rumblings about the MTF being ungrateful to AMTA are entirely false, and I agree. AMTA may be the biggest donor to the MTF (this year the donation exceed $500,000), but they’re not the only ones, and we need to be thankful to ABMP, the NCBTMB, Massage Warehouse, and all the other entities and individuals that step up to the plate. I’ve said before that the MTF transcends politics, and it certainly ought to. I personally think it’s the safest and best strategy to have many smaller donors; if there’s only one big one, and finances don’t allow for the usual donation, it could really hurt the Foundation. My own words–not Ruth’s–all the whiny people need to shut up, and that goes double if you’re not putting your money where your mouth is.

Wednesday night I attended the annual Lippincott author’s dinner. It was hosted by Kelley Squazzo, Shauna Kelly, and Linda Francis, my editor whom I hold in high regard. Present were Ralph Stephens, Pat Archer, Ruth Werner, Mary Beth Braun, Diana Thompson, Tracy Walton, Leslie Young Giase, Carole Osborne, and Les Sweeney. I hope I didn’t miss anybody. I’m always a little star-struck and very grateful to be a member of such an illustrious group of people. Lippincott has so many talented massage therapists in their stable of authors. These aren’t just people who decided to write a book. They are working massage therapists and educators and the cream of the crop. The restaurant, 112 Eatery, had an eclectic menu including house-made charcuterie. Leslie asked the waiter to describe the gruyere et mortadella sandwich, to which he replied “cheese and baloney.” HA! You can dress up anything if you list it in a foreign language. It was all good.

President Kathleen Miller-Read gave an opening speech about balance, the theme of this year’s meeting. The keynote speaker at the meeting was Dr. Loyd Frank Jarrell, a chiropractor, who carried on with the theme. While Jarrell didn’t say anything offensive, he was not what I would call a dynamic speaker, and I personally would have preferred to see a massage therapist doing the keynote speech. Some of our past keynote presenters have rocked the auditorium–Judith Aston comes to mind–and Jarrell was more of a big yawn. I also heard a little sniping about Miller-Read giving the President’s Award to her sister, Maureen Moon. To that I can just say boo-hoo; the President has the right to give it to anyone she chooses, and like Miller-Read, Moon has had almost 30 years of service to AMTA.

I attended a great class from the Research Track, Steps Toward Massage Therapy Guidelines: A First Report to the Profession. While it was a good class and well-presented, I personally signed up for it because Ravensara Travillian was listed as one of the teachers, and she wasn’t there. She was probably out digging up some invertebrates or something of that nature–she’s a very busy and multi-talented woman–but I was still disappointed that the class didn’t include her.

I also attended the COMTA training session for peer evaluators. Some of you may recall that I had a little snarkfest with COMTA earlier this year on my blog, and Kate Henrouille, the Executive Director, had personally invited me to attend the COMTA meeting, so I did. It was a good session and I’m glad I went.

The convention was Party Central this year, too. I attended the President’s Reception with Sally and Ed Hacking. Sally is the undisputed Queen of Government Relations in this profession and currently works with the FSMTB. I’m hoping for some of her knowledge to rub off on me.

I went to several chapter socials, but one of the biggest bangs was the Facebook Friends gathering at Brit’s Pub Thursday night. About 300 of us converged on the Pub and I don’t think they believed the organizers who had warned them that a big crowd was going to show up. The place was packed and I stood at the bar about 15 minutes waiting for a beer. It was a blast.

Friday night, I attended the Massage Envy party, the Massage Therapy Foundation reception, and the Massage Today party. All three were great fun. The highlight was Angie Patrick receiving the Bob and Kathy King Humanitarian Award at the Foundation event. Angie works tirelessly for this profession and it’s great that she was recognized for it.

I didn’t get the count on how many therapists attended this year. I think the economy probably kept it from being as well-attended as last year’s meeting. There were also less exhibitors in the vendor hall. Notably absent was the NCBTMB and the AFMTE. AMTA made the decision to deny both of those organizations a booth, which I personally think was a very poor choice and one that I hope is rescinded by next year’s meeting. I have stated that on this blog and I also wrote a letter of complaint about it to the recently-departed Executive Director, Liz Lucas, just before she left the organization a mere three weeks before the convention. Lucas’ service to AMTA was mentioned by Miller-Read during her opening speech, and also by acting Interim Director, Shelly Johnson.

Speaking of Johnson, I had several opportunities to talk to her this week, and I have decided to throw my support to her for the Executive Director position. No word yet on who else is in the running, but that’s irrelevant to me. Johnson has years of experience as the deputy in that position, and I think she deserves her shot. I hope the BOD will give it to her.

I also attended the Teacher’s Networking Luncheon on Friday and witnessed Melissa Wheeler being honored as the Jerome Perlinski Teacher of the Year. I later had the opportunity to speak with her. She was a good choice for the honor.

As is usually the case when I go to National, the high point for me was connecting with people. I was glad to see so many friends there, including a lot of our NC Posse, meet a lot of my FB friends and blog supporters in person, and as always, there’s something magical and awesome about being with over a thousand people who do what we do. Next year’s meeting will be in Portland, OR. I hope to see you there!